Ghosts and Gab

~ Julie

What do you get when you’ve got ghosts, girls, guides, gab, good grub, and great company?

A book signing.

Last Friday, we all loaded up in the van — Martin, me, the girls, Jaz, and our cellar dwellar Janah — and drove west to visit with my friend, Stacey Graham, during the book signing for her latest release, “The Girls’ Ghost Hunting Guide.”

We were connected via Facebook by our mutual friend, Jason, who is also a writer and who knows Stacey through his writing/creative people circles. Stacey and I both live in the D.C. metropolitan area, she is the ranking blogger over at Army of Ermas, and Jason thought we’d get along pretty well.

He was right.

So for two years, Stacey and I have followed each other’s tweets and updates daily. But we never met.

Yet, when I learned about her book signing, I knew it was time to meet.

It was like seeing an old friend again. The girls took to her right away. Dare I say, they were enchanted.

Of course, she did have candy and offered to make them ghost pendulums out of Lifesavers.Miss C was so impressed that Stacey is a real author. She kept looking at the book, the words on the pages, and then back at Stacey. I could see the wheels in her head turning as Stacey explained the writing process, working with an agent, and a publisher.

The shelves in our house are filled with the books Miss C’s produced on her own, written and illustrated by her own hand, and lovingly stapled along the edges.That girl is making plans.
Of course, Stacey signed our copy of her book, and then promptly took Jaz for some snuggling as the rest of us hit up the refreshment table. (Our family never turns away free food.) The book signing was held in a gallery built inside an old firehouse, so there was artwork, music, and crafts to admire, too.
Lola was getting restless, though, so we made an early exit to the park next door, where there was a live band playing some Beach Boys tunes in the gazebo.
Eventually, Stacey joined us after her book-signing wrapped up.

For the next two hours, the kids ran (or crawled) around the park and swingset while we grown-ups sat on a park bench and chatted about writing, careers, raising children, ghosts, ghost hunting, parenting, living in Washington D.C., living away from Washington D.C., and whatever else came up in between us yelling after the children and keeping Jaz from eating blades of grass.
It’s really funny how motherhood can be a uniting factor.
So can writing.By the time we loaded up the van to return home, the sun was long gone and the kids were passed out within seconds. And I was convinced of what I knew all along: that Mrs Stacey is really a kindred spirit.I didn’t have to read Stacey’s book to know that it’s great, but I did read it and my sixth sense was spot on.
Her book is awesome.

It’s a book geared toward girls who have an interest in the paranormal, but crave something more intelligent and practical than some sparkly vampire romance. The Girls’ Ghost Hunting Guide is not scary, but fun. It’s loaded with ghost history and folklore, the well as tricks and ways one can spot a ghost if they want. There are also recipes for ghost-hunting snacks, and space for the reader to write their own ghost hunting adventures.
Lest you think I’m too biased, you can also read reviews for the book HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
I also want to add that Stacey was writing about zombies way before they were all the rage. Her Zombie tarot cards are so good, the Los Angeles Times included them in their Summer Reading guide last weekend.
I would say if zombies were really around, they’d give her a hand … but you know … they’d really give her a hand.
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